There was disappointment for the Irish lightweight double sculls women's crew of Sinead Lynch and Claire Lambe in the Olympic final as they finished sixth and last at the Lagoa Stadium in Copacabana.

The Irish girls made a sluggish start and by the 500m mark they were already more that a boat length adrift. They never made up any leeway and finished nine seconds behind the winning Dutch crew. Canada took the silver with China third.

After a morning of heavy rain the skies partially cleared before the start of the 2km long final and the Christ the Redeemer statue was visible as the six crews waited for the green light.

Sinead Lynch and Claire Lambe were drawn in lane 6 after finishing third in their semi-final, which left them at a disadvantage.

By reaching the final the girls had already created history as they were the first Irish female crew to reach an Olympic A final.

Two other Irish boats previously contested Olympic finals. At the 1996 Games in Atlanta a lightweight fours crew which included Sinead's husband, Sam Lynch, was agonizingly squeezed out of the medals when finishing fourth while at the Athens Games in 2004 another lightweight fours crews finished sixth in the A final.

Single sculler Sean Drea was fourth in the Olympic final at the Montreal Games in 1976.